News

Rockford, Ill. – Seeking to gain ground in a tight Western Conference playoff race, the Rockford IceHogs lost 4-0 to the visiting Peoria Rivermen on Saturday night at the BMO Harris Bank Center in an Illinois Lottery Cup matchup.

Peoria connected in each period, with their first tally coming at 15:07 of the opening frame. Mark Cundari found Andrew Murray in the neutral zone, who then beat out IceHogs defenseman Adam Clendening in a foot race and slipped the puck past Carter Hutton’s blocker side to give the Rivermen a 1-0 edge.

The Rivermen increased their lead to 2-0 midway through the middle frame. Jani Lajunen found Andrew Bouvet-Morrissette in the neutral zone, who then split the IceHogs defense and snapped a wrist shot over Hutton’s glove for his first goal of the season.

The scoring continued into the third period for Peoria. With T.J. Hensick located alone at the IceHogs blue line, Sergey Andronov delivered a pass to the open forward, who then converted on the breakaway opportunity to give Peoria a 3-0 lead.

Less than two minutes later, Hensick added a second goal at the 9:54 mark. While on a four-minute power play, Cade Fairchild’s shot from the point was deflected by Hutton, but Hensick gathered the rebound and wristed the puck into the back of the net to solidify Peoria’s 4-0 victory.

Rockford killed off five of Peoria’s six power-play chances. Hutton finished with 31 saves in a losing effort.

Next Home Game: Wednesday, March 27 vs. Toronto Marlies. Game time is 7:05 p.m. Dollar Days return when the Marlies make their lone visit to the Forest City in 2012-13. Fans can take advantage of $1 beers, hot dogs, soft drinks and companion tickets.